Some time ago, I was flying home from Arizona. Next to me was a young woman, 20-something, who spent the whole flight, we’re talking several hours, looking at photos of herself. Some photos were taken by others, most were selfies.
I related that incident last Friday to the seniors of Lutheran High School South. It was grandparents’ day, and I was honored to give a short chapel address. What are you going to do with your lives? I felt sorry for that young woman, her inner life must be so hollow, but to be kind, she’s just taken in by our selfie culture. So many people today are just like John and James in Mark 10. “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (v. 37). Self-promoters who want to have prominent places in the next presidential administration, people who fawn to bask in the glow of the Oscars, even clergy who dream of higher offices in the church.
Jesus doesn’t force His will on people, but He does suggest a better way, His life, for our young people as they set out. Service, not selfies. “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (v. 45). I shared with the seniors some quotations from homeless people. I told about a prostitute afraid to leave her pimp for fear of being killed. For God’s sake, our neighborhoods, communities, and country need more people into service than self-promoting selfies. “Now when you have Christ as the foundation and chief blessing of your salvation, then the other part follows: that you take him as your example, giving yourself in service to your neighbor just as you see that Christ has given himself for you” (Martin Luther, “A Brief Instruction,” Luther’s Works, 35.120).
The seniors and their grandparents were listening, I could see it in their faces. I closed by saying that I have to believe that many of these graduates will indeed pursue lives of service, not selfies. Lord knows we need it.